So, I'm planning on doing a Dodrio Gijinka costume for a con next month and I've got everything figured out except for one little thing:

I have no clue on how to make the hand puppets.

[This] (http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/4792/dodrio.jpg) is basically the costume I'm doing with a few minor changes added on by me to make myself more comfortable. The puppets are the same though. I was wondering if anyone who may have made puppets before would be able to help me.

I was thinking of using a black elbow-length glove to simulate the black neck of the male Dodrio images(who I like more) and gluing a foam beak to the finger part so that when I move my hand, the beak moves too and I can grab things with them. Maybe not very efficiently, but I can at least try. xD

My main problem is the actual head construction, attaching the beak, and how in the world to fur the head. x.x Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Mister B

03-24-2010, 02:26 PM

I've made puppets before, and this may sound crazy but what will really help you is starting with a sock. You said you wanted to use black arm-length gloves for his neck, right? You could always begin with some knee-high socks. After that, the steps to making a basic sock puppet (which is what he'd be, unless you wanted his mouth more articulate than just open-close... although from the sounds of it, a hand puppet would be best) are pretty simple. The sock part would just be the base- my friend made two alligator puppets a while ago, and I'll post pictures of them as soon as I have access to my flash drive, but they had nicely shaped heads and everything- they lookd pretty professional, you can't tell at all they began life as socks.
The first step would be to get your hands on some thin cardbard like a cereal box or the abandoned back of a spiral notebook. It needs to be able to bend easily. After that, you spread your thumb and forefinger as far apart as possible and trace an oval shape around the length of your hand. cut it out, and put it in your hand, bending it where the crease of your thumb lies. With this stuck in your hand, you have the rough mouth of your Dodrio, and you can practice lip-synching with this piece of cardboard too ^^ (I don't think you'd need to lip-synch too much for dodrio, but it's incredibly fun to move your puppet's mouth along with your own every time you talk.)
Next, get your sock, and put it on your hand to measure. The heel-part of the sock will need to sit on the back of your wrist, where you would wear a watch, so the actual mouth of your puppet will be on the part of the sock that would cover the top of your foot.
Take the sock back off your hand, and trace your cardboard oval on the top-of-the-foot-mouth part with a white pencil or chalk. Cut out a smaller oval aboue a centimeter INSIDE of the outline you traced- although you may want to slit the sides of the oval a little wider to give your hand a little leeway to move. Then you can slip the cardboard oval inside the mouth and hot-glue it around the edges, so that you have a basic loose sock puppet with a sturdy mouth.
After that, building up his head wouldn't be too hard.... when my friend Krystyne made Charlie Gator, she used bendable wire to form a snout for him and made the roundness of his head with a styrofoam ball. With the styrofoam ball, what you'd want to do is cut it in half and carve out enough space for your hand, clad in sock, to fit into each side with some leeway. For your beak, making the framework with wire and colvering it in fabric might be best, although the foam could work easily as well.
As for covering his head with fur, if you first cover the styrofoam ball with a layer of tisse paper soaked in elmer's glue and give it time to dry, then hot-glue should be able to hold the fur to the head just fine. I'm pretty sure the fabric we covered Charlie Gator in was just hot-glued on, too.
I'm sorry my tutorial is so confusing- I'd add lots of nice pictures and diagrams, but I'm on a public computer and I don't have my flash drive anywhere. I promise that I'll come back in a few hours and post some diagrams and an example of the puppet I keep referring to. If it would help, I can make a video explaining the first steps of making the sock puppet to you ^^ I've made several, so at this point I feel like a sock-puppet expert. I hope my explanation helps! I can't wait to see how your cosplay turns out... I love Pokemon costumes like this, and anything with puppets. If you have any questions I'll do my best to clear up all my... crappy confusingness XD

Toluca

03-24-2010, 02:48 PM

You have no idea how helpful this is. <333

I happen to have a cereal box that I've been saving just in case I needed it for something. Hooray for being a cosplay packrat. xD I hadn't thought of using a sock, despite seeing a whole lot of hand puppet ideas using them.

The tissue paper idea is really helpful. I was trying to think of how I could use hot glue on styrofoam without melting it, but I hadn't figured anything out yet. I'll have to give that a try.

I'd love some pictures to go by mostly because I'm a pretty visual learner. It'd be greatly appreciated. The video would just be an epic edition because I need to make two of these and I'd like to see a walk through of how to do it.

Mister B

03-24-2010, 03:49 PM

This (http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/1557/img5609j.jpg) is the puppet, Charlie Gator...Although, the hot glue might need to be a low-heat gun, even on top of the tissue paper.... We made Charlie at school, and I'm pretty sure all the hot glue guns there are low heat to keep us childrens from burning ourselves XD
Alright! Video it is :D I can't go as far as the styrofoam-ball step, but I'll video myself making an easy sock puppet so you can refer back to it. I can draw you some diagrams after I make the video, too.
Hell yeah for cosplay packratism XD I know what you mean. Our dorm room has so much fabric, cardboard and crap in it that I could probably make anything... ever.

Toluca

03-24-2010, 10:30 PM

Aw, he's adorable. ^_^ Low heat I can do and tend to keep my glue gun at anyway because I already have scars from one that wasn't.

That's fine. Whatever you can show me would be great. :3 And yeah, I have so much random junk in my dorm right now that I had to move some of it to a friend's to save space. *fail*

Mister B

03-25-2010, 01:19 PM

Haha, thank you! All the credit has to go to Krystyne, she made him... I just learned the sock puppet basics along with her. The puppet I ended up making was on a dowel rod and worked totally differently.
o.o Yeah, I have a hot-glue gun scar, too.... on my nose! I thought if I put enough tape between my skin and the glue, the heat wouldn't burn me and I could draw raised-up scars or warts with the glue gun.... experiment gone extremely wrong XD pretty fail.
I have to find an old sock before I can make the video for you o.o I don't have any socks I'm willing to cut up yet. Let me dig through my wardrobe some more tonight >.<! All that stuff makes it hard to find.... well, anything XD I know what you mean about moving stuff.... technically I live in two rooms right now... I have stuff dispersed throughout both.
I was going to post a link to a site that had the basic how-to for sock puppets, but none of them do it the way I do -___- so I'll just wait till I have the video. We learned from a PROFESSIONAL, lol! Sorry it's taking so long.

Toluca

03-25-2010, 06:34 PM

In theory, that sounds like a good idea, but I guess not in practice. xD

Yeah, I understand. I need to go out and buy a pair of socks specifically for this because I love all of my long black socks.

I'm going shopping for materials tomorrow, so even a basic idea of what I need to get would be amazing right now so I can figure out how much I need to set aside for my next trip. The actual costume part of Dodrio is really simple, so I'm waiting on it.

Take your time. There's no real rush. Freecon isn't until April 16th. ^^

Mister B

03-26-2010, 01:14 PM

When it comes to shopping for materials, let's see.... You already have the cardboard box, you'll need to buy the socks (I have to buy some too; I can't find any stray ones without matches or love XD) you'll need hot glue, a styrofoam ball about the size you want the Dodrio head... Depending on which way you want the beak to be made, you'll need either wire or foam for the beak.... and the fur for his head... I can't think of much else! ^^ I hope the grocery list helps.
LOL, not until the sixteenth? Thank goodness, I was worried my slowness might mess up your schedule for making the costume or something.... X.X But I'll still hurry my slow butt up, because the sooner you get everything done, the sooner you can have the whole costume ^^ So.... yeah!!! This weekend is the weekend of a prom I'm going to, things may be a little hectic but with any luck I'll make the video tonight and post it to youtube or something soon ^^

Toluca

03-28-2010, 01:39 PM

Well, I've got all of my materials now except for the socks. Need to get those Monday. I don't know why styrofoam balls are so expensive, but meh. Cosplay isn't the cheapest of hobbies.

I'm excited to get started, but I have a Link tunic to keep me busy until I can get my socks, so yay for that. :3

Mister B

04-01-2010, 01:27 PM

Yeah, styrofoam is ridiculously expensive.... We had to buy two balls of it (lol) for Charlie Gator's head.... But!!! I made your video last night :D
Here you go! (http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/1559/sany0088.mp4)
XD Sorry I talked so much. I hope you can follow what I'm saying....
If the bottom jaw ends up too tight on yours, let me know and I'll draw you a diagram of how we fixed the problem on Charlie ^^
eeeee, yay, Link tunic!!!! I need to get my hands on a used football helmet and spray paint for my next planned cosplay o.o I have no idea how expensive football helmets are....

Toluca

04-05-2010, 03:30 PM

Huzzah! I have the puppets for both hands completed up to the end of the video. They're pretty crude due to a cutting error, but they work. ^^ Now, I'm trying to figure out how I want to do the beak and the head. That video was SO very helpful, you would not even believe. <3333

I'm going to pick up a much fluffier fur tomorrow than I have now, which I think will be really good for Dodrio. :3 I'm pretty excited to figure out how I'm going to finish these guys up.

Tweed

05-21-2010, 12:24 PM

Oh my goodness.... this was extremely helpful! I've been trying for MONTHS to find someone to help me do Dodrio heads! ((I'm doing mine for AX. Darn, I thought I was gonna be the only one! xD )) At first, the idea of sock puppets seemed "meh" to me, but I think it's really the best option! Thanks for uh... having this discussion. <3